Review of the Black & Decker TR1400SB 4-Slice Toaster

The Black & Decker TR1400SB 4-slice toaster intends to make toasting hassle-free. It has an extra-high lift carriage so you aren’t reaching into the hot toaster to pull out your bread, and the one-touch toast selections and shade dial help produce the toast you want. Even with a lot of features, this Black & Decker is pretty affordable, so you don’t have to spend a lot to enjoy better toast.

Dual independent control panels

This toaster has two separate control panels for the four total slots, which means you can toast both sides of a bagel using one control panel, and two slices of regular bread with the other. Each slot is independent, so you can make two different breakfasts at once, saving a lot of time.

One-touch toast selections

A lot of toasters require that you guess about how long to toast a food, but the one-touch toast selections let you choose from a bagel setting, defrost, reheat, and then cancel. The bagel setting is especially useful since toasting a bagel is different than toasting, say, a piece of white bread, so the one-touch selection lets the toaster do the thinking for you.

Removable crumb tray

Toasters produce a lot of crumbs, and can be tricky to clean. Oftentimes, you end up shaking the toaster upside down to try and get the crumbs out, but there are always some that seem to hang around. The Black & Decker has an auto-eject removable crumb tray, so clearing the toaster from crumbs is easy. Keeping your toaster clean is important so the crumbs don’t burn or dull the effectiveness of the unit.

Strengths

High carriage

A very common problem with toasters is that the bread is just below the toaster threshold, so you have to put your fingers down close to the still-hot grates. On the TR1400SB, the carriage lifts the toast high, so you just grab it without risk of burning yourself. This makes the toaster safer for everyone.

Extra-wide, self-centered slots

Toast a variety of breads – thick or thin – with the superior toaster slots. The four slice slots are designed to be extra-wide and self-centering so bigger cuts of bread like rolls and bagels easily fit.

Control over browning

Everyone has their preference for how brown they like their toast. Choose from seven browning-control settings on this toaster for your ideal toast every time. The dial is located on the side and is labeled with numbers, so you can find your perfect number and stick to it.

Weaknesses

Issues with uneven toasting

Because of the toaster’s design, it tends to toast more on the bottom than on the top. This is a problem with toasting evenness, and making adjustments to the settings can be tricky because they are very sensitive. You might have to turn your bread slice upside down to get the top as brown as the bottom.

Overall Review

The Black & Decker 4-slice toaster is very reasonably-priced, considering how many settings and functions it has. Using the seven browning settings, four auto-toast selections, and dual-independent control panels, you can toast different bread types at once. Clean-up is easy thanks to the removable crumb tray. Though the toaster has some problems with toast evenness, the overall toaster is safer and (with a high carriage) gives you more control over your toasted foods.

Ratingle.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.